Could this actor possibly be the coolest chick on Australian TV?

WITH the saturation of reality TV contestants and their ‘journeys’ and ‘inspiration’ jargon, it’s refreshing to chat with an actor who can laugh at herself.

Chilled out, ripped to the hilt and with an infectious laugh, Brooke Satchwell cuts through the crap and is officially our new TV girl crush — even if she’s been on our small screens for the past 18 years.

Brooke Satchwell at the Wonderland dinnerSource: News Corp Australia

“I’ve been part of the furniture is what I’ve been,” Satchwell says of her TV darling status.

“I’m like how you love your favourite easy chair, or that coffee table that tells a story of your share-house days.

“I’ve been a fixture in peoples lives in some way, shape or form. There is a level of familiarity and I guess that brings some level of ease and comfort.

“I get a really lovely reception from people and quite often, which is the nicest thing, people think we know each other.

“And my one dollar question, aside from being asked, ‘Were you on Home and Away?’ and ‘Are you Kate Ritchie!” (cue cackle)

“That level of familiarity shows I’m doing something that is resonating with people that I am trying to connect with. I have no interest in saying ‘Hey look at me, look at me’.

Starting out in Neighbours as Anne Wilkinson back in 1996, Satchwell has remained staunchly on our screens, moving eclectically from favourite shows like Water Rats, Play School and Packed to the Rafters with ease.

Satchwell has certainly made headlines for plenty of reasons off screen, from her doomed abusive relationship with Matthew Newton to narrowly escaping a terrorist attack in Mumbai.

Despite it all, she has remained refreshingly honest.

While she is canny with the odd deflection of a question — ‘Are you (and film editor David Cross) married?’, ‘Let’s just say he is the love of my life’ — she is happy to open up.

“I look at my life no different to how anybody else looks at theirs.

“I kind of look at it this way, a lot of crazy shit had happened in my life from day dot.”

“Even before I entered the film and television industry which is why it was so hysterical for my family when I got cast in a soap opera because we had already been living that by degrees.”

“Sure some of these things made international headlines, but in the context of things and me waking up and breathing and having breakfast and going to the bathroom that day, it is still another breath, another moment in life.

“Even before I entered the film and television industry, which is why it was so hysterical for my family when I got cast in a soap opera because we had already been living that by degrees.”

Actor Brooke Satchwell and her film editor partner David Gross arrives from Mumbai to Sydney Airport following the 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks.Source: News Limited

Unlike plenty of fame-hungry stars, Satchwell has no desire to hit Tinseltown.

But like any of us civilians, she sometimes wonders late at night if she has made the right decisions.

“I’ve chosen to stay working in Australia, it has been a conscious decision,” she said.

“I was working such incredible hours at such a young age that I was removed from the fabric of day to day life with my family and friends so I learnt very early on to prioritise that.”

“Let’s face it, life is short, you have got to value the people that you love in your life and make sure you grab every moment you can.”

Brooke Satchwell and Ryan Corr on the set of Packed to the Rafters.Source: News Limited

“So the prospect of moving overseas for greater notoriety, or money, that trade off doesn’t balance for me.”

“Oh s--- what the f--- was I saying” cackles with laughter again.

“Oh that’s right, I worry that it can work against me, obviously there is a currency to having worked overseas in any field that you can bring back to Australia, that’s incredibly valuable.

“However I would like to hope that long term I remain standing (hahahahaha) and that is going to have its own merit and that will work for me too.”

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